The Nuclear Landscape as a Garden 27
It is well known that the river diversion project never came to fruition. As
Tetsuro Chida has recently pointed out, the technopolitics of the late-Soviet
era were characterized by a fierce battle of Prometheans against realists, with
the former proposing grandiose projects and the latter insisting on feasibility
studies and appraisals of consequences. 57 In questioning the economic and
ecological rationality of the project, the latter eventually prevailed, and as a
result, Shevchenko remained the pinnacle of Soviet nuclear-powered nature
transformation. Oleg Kazachkovskii, one of the fathers of the Soviet breeder
program, explained the meaning of the atomic oasis to everybody willing to
listen: “Here is what matters: In the desert rose a city for 100 thousand inhabitants, with many trees, wide green boulevards, and all this is made possible
by desalinated water. Here you have an example, how man’s activity does not
hurt nature, but on the contrary, benefits it.” 58
Environmental Degradation and Health Hazards
Kazachkovskii’s statement exemplifies the specific “sightedness and blindness”
of Soviet technopolitics, 59 both in terms of what he chose to highlight – the
nuclear oasis – and with regard to what he preferred to overlook – namely
the fact that the creation of new nature came with a hefty ecological price
tag. The environmental impacts of Shevchenko were manifold: for one, the
extraction of Mangyshlak’s natural riches released large amounts of toxic and
radioactive pollutants into the environment. Second, it consumed and permanently spoiled enormous quantities of other valuable resources – especially
freshwater. Third, the extraction of resources from the depth of the peninsula and the deposition of wastes on its surface (most notably, liquid tailings
resulting from uranium processing) affected not only the ecology, but also
the geology of the peninsula in ways so profound that they were eventually
believed to facilitate seismic activities. 60
The PGMK was one of the main offenders. Uranium processing by
hydrometallurgical methods requires large quantities of fresh water in conjunction with hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. Once used, these waste waters
or “tailings” are both toxic and radioactive, and thus in need of safe storage.
Nevertheless, for the first few years, they were unceremoniously dumped
into a nearby depression, where they accumulated to form a pond, which
was quickly surrounded by the sprawling city’s cynically named “lakeside”
residential district. Today, the pond is known as the “dead lake”; in 2012,
it was found to contain an exceptionally high concentration of depleted
uranium (U-238). 61 Eventually, inspectors from the Ministry in Moscow
discovered and stopped the dumping, which was illegal even by the lax
standards of the time, and in 1965, the uranium-processing plant and its
tailings reservoir were transferred to the industrial area outside the city
limits – as had been planned from the very beginning. 62 It was a marginal
improvement at best, for the new reservoir was neither sealed in any way,
nor were the tailings treated prior to discharge, 63 and with both the city and
It is well known that the river diversion project never came to fruition. As
Tetsuro Chida has recently pointed out, the technopolitics of the late-Soviet
era were characterized by a fierce battle of Prometheans against realists, with
the former proposing grandiose projects and the latter insisting on feasibility
studies and appraisals of consequences. 57 In questioning the economic and
ecological rationality of the project, the latter eventually prevailed, and as a
result, Shevchenko remained the pinnacle of Soviet nuclear-powered nature
transformation. Oleg Kazachkovskii, one of the fathers of the Soviet breeder
program, explained the meaning of the atomic oasis to everybody willing to
listen: “Here is what matters: In the desert rose a city for 100 thousand inhabitants, with many trees, wide green boulevards, and all this is made possible
by desalinated water. Here you have an example, how man’s activity does not
hurt nature, but on the contrary, benefits it.” 58
Environmental Degradation and Health Hazards
Kazachkovskii’s statement exemplifies the specific “sightedness and blindness”
of Soviet technopolitics, 59 both in terms of what he chose to highlight – the
nuclear oasis – and with regard to what he preferred to overlook – namely
the fact that the creation of new nature came with a hefty ecological price
tag. The environmental impacts of Shevchenko were manifold: for one, the
extraction of Mangyshlak’s natural riches released large amounts of toxic and
radioactive pollutants into the environment. Second, it consumed and permanently spoiled enormous quantities of other valuable resources – especially
freshwater. Third, the extraction of resources from the depth of the peninsula and the deposition of wastes on its surface (most notably, liquid tailings
resulting from uranium processing) affected not only the ecology, but also
the geology of the peninsula in ways so profound that they were eventually
believed to facilitate seismic activities. 60
The PGMK was one of the main offenders. Uranium processing by
hydrometallurgical methods requires large quantities of fresh water in conjunction with hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. Once used, these waste waters
or “tailings” are both toxic and radioactive, and thus in need of safe storage.
Nevertheless, for the first few years, they were unceremoniously dumped
into a nearby depression, where they accumulated to form a pond, which
was quickly surrounded by the sprawling city’s cynically named “lakeside”
residential district. Today, the pond is known as the “dead lake”; in 2012,
it was found to contain an exceptionally high concentration of depleted
uranium (U-238). 61 Eventually, inspectors from the Ministry in Moscow
discovered and stopped the dumping, which was illegal even by the lax
standards of the time, and in 1965, the uranium-processing plant and its
tailings reservoir were transferred to the industrial area outside the city
limits – as had been planned from the very beginning. 62 It was a marginal
improvement at best, for the new reservoir was neither sealed in any way,
nor were the tailings treated prior to discharge, 63 and with both the city and